At the risk of overstating things a bit, in a lot of ways Dillinger Four
are what it’s all about. Whether you love them or hate them, it’s all but impossible to ignore them these days. And I think that’s the point. After steadily picking up steam for the last eight years, Dillinger Four were picked up by Fat Wreck last year. But in a way, it seems that maybe these four boys from Minneapolis were always set up for music industry suicide.
They are extremely opinionated, especially about the very scene that they’re a part of. They’ll also get up in front of a crowd of mosh-happy high school kids and respond with a bass player who would rather whip out his balls or throw bananas at a sound man then throw down any of the right moves. But it’s also hard to ignore that the boys of Dillinger Four are honest, talented, and also smarter than your average punk rock kid, or even your average punk rock band. Their music is both aggressive and undeniably catchy, and their live show is second to none. Their lyrics are pissed, and even preachy, though also well
thought out and well written. There is also a self-defecating sense of humor that finds it’s way into just about everything they do. They aren’t sucking up to, or rubbing elbows with anyone, yet they’re still climbing faster than all the “industry types” that are.
This new record picks up both musically, and lyrically where “Versus God” left off. If anything their Fat Wreck debut is more dense than anything they’ve done before. The vocals are mixed much quieter than on your average punk rock record. The guitars are as loud, or louder than
the vocals almost the whole way through. The is still a collision of poppy guitar riffs, and aggressive, though sometimes bouncy rhythms, with pissed vocals from three different singers.
This is a combination that would be a train wreck in most any situation. But Dillinger Four pull it off, all with relative ease. The songs are angry, and snotty, though also catchy at the same time. On top of that the intangibles are all there to make for an entertaining package. As with every D4 release, there are sound bytes, and they’re well chosen, short, and well placed so they aid the songs rather than breaking them up.The artwork is hilarious as always, and it’s hard not to giggle at song titles like “laboissuesinthe-toydepartment”, and “A Floater Left With Pleasure In The Executive Washroom”. And you probably have an idea of where “New Punk Fashions For The Spring Formal” is headed, taking shots at AFI, and New Found Glory for making punk rock a marketing tool.
Either way, this is about as essential a punk rock album as there’s been in some time.
www.dillingerfour.com
www.fatwreck.com
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Review provided by > Stuart Anderson, Editor stuart@thenewscheme.com |
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